Pressure for a Full Back Kicking In

The first thing a full back or kick in player needs to do when preparing to kick out is assess how the opposition is setting up as this obviously affects your kick in strategy. Opposition teams essentially use two main defensive set ups to defend a kick in, a man-on-man defence or a zone defence. (3,4,5)

Once you've assessed the opposition's set up, the next thing to do is plan on how much space you should give yourself. Something that is very important is to give yourself a bit of distance. You don't want to get too close to the line. So it's really important you give yourself a bit of space.

Man on Man A man-on-man defence is simply where players from the defending team each pick up an opposing player during the kick in.

The Huddle One of the advantages of a man on man defence is that every kick in, players should be manned up by an opposition player so there should be no loose men. The disadvantage is that when kicking in can manipulate the set ups to create space for quicker players to run into. We do this by using a 'huddle'. "Ideally we want to get our players to a huddle in the middle of the ground quickly”. That way, there is a lot of space long and out wide towards the wings, there is a lot of space short and a lot of space out the back." CHF be alert to lead into the centre of the ground as soon as our players start to lead, becoming another long option. (This also opens up our forward line for quick transition, giving FF plenty of space to lead into with CHF becoming a crumber running goalwards.

Use our Best Runner Once players are huddled in the middle of the ground, Players in the huddle block opposing players, try to free up our quicker players, to run into and exploit the open space. This is when leadership is required. (Leadership group discuss with players)

Play On First, Then Kick The other option is to simply play on to give yourself that extra 5 or 10 meters before you kick. (Back pocket ready to block player standing on the mark)"If you play on, you need to recognize where the opponent is on the mark. If he's really close, you need to stand right back near the goals, then play on and run straight to the pocket to get a bit of distance. If he is blocked by our back pocket look for a lead direct and long. (Wind or CHF)